U.S. Identifies Zarqawi’s Successor

The U.S. military released info on the man claiming to be the new Al Qaeda leader in Iraq: Abu Ayyub al Masri, an Egyptian with ties to Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al Zawahri.

AP:

The U.S. military said Thursday the man claiming to be the new al-Qaida in Iraq leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian with ties to Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said al-Masri apparently is the same person that al-Qaida in Iraq identified in a Web posting last week as its new leader — Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, a nom de guerre. Al-Muhajer claimed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a June 7 U.S. airstrike, and vowed to avenge him in threatening Web statements in recent days.

The military showed a picture of al-Masri wearing a traditional white Arab headdress at a Baghdad news conference.

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AP /U.S. Military

This photo released by the U.S. military at a press conference in Baghdad on Thursday, June 15, purports to show Abu Ayyub al Masri. Masri allegedly is the man claiming to be the new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq and apparently the person identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al Muhajer, according to the U.S. military, and who has claimed to have succeeded Abu Musab al Zarqawi and vowed to avenge him in threatening Internet statements in recent days.